05/10/2011

About That Gender Parity in Law Schools...

For several years now the statistics on law school admissions have shown that the era of male domination of the legal field is in the process of ending, as the overall law school and bar admissions are close to 50/50 for men and women. This year's statistics from the U.S. News and World Report suggest, however, that equity might be lagging in the nation's most elite law schools. This passage from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's majority opinion in Grutter v Bollinger explains why admissions decisions in elite law schools are particularlly significant:

[L]aw schools, represent the training ground for a large number of our Nation's leaders. Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U. S. 629, 634 (1950) (describing law school as a "proving ground for legal learning and practice"). Individuals with law degrees occupy roughly half the state governorships, more than half the seats in the United States Senate, and more than a third of the seats in the United States House of Representatives. See Brief for Association of American Law Schools as Amicus Curiae 5-6. The pattern is even more striking when it comes to highly selective law schools. A handful of these schools accounts for 25 of the 100 United States Senators, 74 United States Courts of Appeals judges, and nearly 200 of the more than 600 United States District Court judges. [Emphasis added]

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About That Gender Parity in Law Schools...

For several years now the statistics on law school admissions have shown that the era of male domination of the legal field is in the process of ending, as the overall law school and bar admissions are close to 50/50 for men and women. This year's statistics from the U.S. News and World Report suggest, however, that equity might be lagging in the nation's most elite law schools. This passage from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's majority opinion in Grutter v Bollinger explains why admissions decisions in elite law schools are particularlly significant:

[L]aw schools, represent the training ground for a large number of our Nation's leaders. Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U. S. 629, 634 (1950) (describing law school as a "proving ground for legal learning and practice"). Individuals with law degrees occupy roughly half the state governorships, more than half the seats in the United States Senate, and more than a third of the seats in the United States House of Representatives. See Brief for Association of American Law Schools as Amicus Curiae 5-6. The pattern is even more striking when it comes to highly selective law schools. A handful of these schools accounts for 25 of the 100 United States Senators, 74 United States Courts of Appeals judges, and nearly 200 of the more than 600 United States District Court judges. [Emphasis added]